8th AF and RAF Bomber losses

[b17sam]

I believe the total of B17 and B24 bombers that failed to return from combat operations came to 3832. Can anyone supply the total figures for Lancaster, Halifax, and Stirling bombers?

[mhuxt]

Hi Sam:

The aircraft losses for the RAF by type by Group, are here:

BC - Group Stats

You'll have to use a little Excel-fu to get the grand totals, but that page is a good start.

[mhuxt]

Hi Sam:

Brief update. The answer appears to be "depends who you ask."

The site I mentioned above has 614 Stirlings, 1,721 Hallies and 3378 Lancs Failed to Return, total 5713. Note that it also provides separate figures for crashed on return for Stirlings and Lancs (sadly not for Halifaxes), which brings its total to 6,357 without the Hallies. If they crashed on return at the same rate as Lancs, there'd be another 200 or so losses.

The figures given in a paper called "Britain 1939 - 1945: The Economic Cost of Strategic Bombing" are: 684 Stirlings, 1,884 Hallies and 4,265 Lancs lost on operations, total 6,833. However I'm convinced this includes those aircraft which crashed or were otherwise written off on return, so not simply Failed to Return. The paper itself is a free download pdf file at:
http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitst...40202whole.pdf

There is an American Paper called "Strategy for Defeat" (actually about the Luftwaffe, and also a free download from http://aupress.au.af.mil/catalog/books/Murray_B12.htm ) gives TO THE END OF '44 715 Stirlings, 1,989 Hallies and 3,292 Lancs, total 5,997 as written off. Again, I believe this includes crashed on return or written off due to damage.

Apparently there is a table in one of the appendices in Martin Middlebrook's Bomber Command War Diaries which may split it all out. There's a copy of same in my local library, I'll see if I can get over there soonish.

HTH

[Watanbe]

It would make sense for the RAF losses to be higher considering they were bombing mainland Europe for 3 years before the Americans.

[drgondog]

It would make sense for the RAF losses to be higher considering they were bombing mainland Europe for 3 years before the Americans.

Don't have the statistics at hand but IIRC the number of tons dropped by USAAF was just under RAF BC in ETO - implying more sorties by USAAF because of less bomb load.

Also the RAF continued to take big losses at night through the end of the war whereas the USAAF daylight excorts were mostly effective at neutralizing the LW during the last 12 months.. with only a couple of days in which the LW took down up to 40 bombers after May 1, 1944.

[mhuxt]

It would make sense for the RAF losses to be higher considering they were bombing mainland Europe for 3 years before the Americans.

Bear in mind Sam's after the numbers for the heavies, which really didn't enter full RAF service until 1942.

[Erich]

although the real figure could go either way and it will be revealed in some aspects this late fall in 2 volumes on the Nachtjagd but the LW night fighter forces claimed some 7,308 confirmed day and night victories. 220 of the total were day kills mostly of heavy US 4-engine bombers but also Allied fighters as well.....

E ~

[Watanbe]

Don't have the statistics at hand but IIRC the number of tons dropped by USAAF was just under RAF BC in ETO - implying more sorties by USAAF because of less bomb load.

Also the RAF continued to take big losses at night through the end of the war whereas the USAAF daylight excorts were mostly effective at neutralizing the LW during the last 12 months.. with only a couple of days in which the LW took down up to 40 bombers after May 1, 1944.

true its pretty hard to escort night bombing with WW2 technology!

[Waynos]

Many RAF raids in the early part of the war involved aircraft carrying only 3,000lbs or less (ie Whitley, Hampden etc) and most of the early raids only involved leaflet drops so comparing tonnage dropped will not give a true overall picture I feel.

[drgondog]

Many RAF raids in the early part of the war involved aircraft carrying only 3,000lbs or less (ie Whitley, Hampden etc) and most of the early raids only involved leaflet drops so comparing tonnage dropped will not give a true overall picture I feel.

agreed.

[annecooper]

hi i am daughter of a deceased decorated bomber pilot i would really be grateful for information-numbers and statistics of losses-planes and pilots[raf] per mission and total,also if possible bombers seperate statistics,[is it true that 80% losses occured through the war?]

[Watanbe]

hi i am daughter of a deceased decorated bomber pilot i would really be grateful for information-numbers and statistics of losses-planes and pilots[raf] per mission and total,also if possible bombers seperate statistics,[is it true that 80% losses occured through the war?]

Post this in the aircraft requests section, so then more people will read it and you should get the replies your looking for! Just a suggestion, good luck!

[mhuxt]

Hi Again Sam:

Found the Middlebrook book in the local library. The numbers here gives are:

Lancs: 3,431 Failed to Return, 246 Operational Crashes
Hallies: 1,884 Failed to Return, 199 Operational Crashes
Stirlings: 625 Failed to Return, 59 Operational Crashes

Total: 5,940 Failed to Return, 504 Operational Crashes

[b17sam]

Many thanks, mhuxt, for the exact reply I was seeking. What was the title of the Middlebrook book? Here are a couple of statistics you may find interesting. My bomb group, the 91st, had the most casualties of any group in the 8th Air Force (see link to 8th AF casualties in B-17 B-24 Pictures Information 8th Air Force Flying Fortress Liberator Ploesti Schweinfurt Merseberg Berlin missions ), and we were second in number of cases of VD. We might have been first in that category too, had I not abstained during the last two weeks of my tour.

[mhuxt]

Hi Sam:

No worries, glad to be able to help. The book is called "The Bomber Command War Diaries", and is a massive piece of work, giving a day-by-day picture of targets, sorties dispatched and failed to return, with some more detailed narrative.

I confess I'd not seen your website before, but I'm now slowly working my way through it. I'm not sure I could have done what you and your comrades did even when I was young and insane, and I'm damn sure I couldn't do it today.

All the very best to you,

Mark

Edit - There is a cached version of the day-by-day accounts by Middlebrook (though not of the appendices etc.) here:

RAF History - Bomber Command 60th Anniversary